Machine for cutting tobacco and the like



Oct. 21, 1952 P. Q. R. SCHREIBER 2,614,596

I. MACHINE FOR CUTTING TOBACCO AND THE LIKE Filed March 29, 1950 2SHEETS-SHEET l F/G./. 38 36 s 6 22 J /a 50 IO 28/ I 54 2 l 6 5O llz lllkl Q Hun 4 1 f E l l5 I2 [H- I Inventor W Qu/m/V ROBERT 6MKEYBEI?Attorney P. Q. R. SCHREIBER MACHINE oa CUTTING TOBACCO AND THE LIKE Oct.21, 1952 2 Sl-lEE'IS-SHEET 2 Filed March 29, 1950 m an X. m w M I 7 illi .l l A il w moI v k v O mm Attorney Vide mechanism MACHINE FOR CUTTINGTOBACCO AND THE LIKE I Patrick Quintin Robert Schreiber, London,England, assignor to Robert Legg Limited, London, v

England, a British company Application March 29, 1950, Serial No.152,698 c In Great Britain April 5, 1949 V cumference of the drum. Thereis accordingly little space available for mechanism bywhich the knivesmay be moved outwards as their cutting l edges are-worn awa e 1 v theinvention to provide more 1 It is an object of compact mechanism formoving the knives'of a rotary cutter.

3 Claims. (Cl. 146117) tobacco and are commonly arranged as.

It is afurther object of the invention to'pro- I vide mechanism whereby-a1l:;'the knives of, a .rotary cutter may be moved outwards inunisonunder precise control.

It is a further object of the invention to prowhereby all .the" knivesof a- 2 outwards from between the lower and upper plates 6 and 8. h v

Each upper plate 8 is pivoted on a shaft l6 and has a number ofprojecting arms l8. rest against eccentric cams 20 on a shaft 22, andwhen the latter is turned the upper plate 8 is pressed towards-the lowerplate 6 and so'clamps the knife 4.

A numberof bell-crank levers 24 are'housed in recesses 26 in the lowerplate 6 and arepivoted at 28. Each lever carries a pin 30 which bearsagainst the rear edge32 of the knife 4, and each lever is connected by apivoted 1ink'34 to a nut 36 which can slide ina slot 38. A threadedshaft 40 passes through all the nuts 36 lying beneath one knife, and islocated axially by a thrust hearing 42. Rotation of the shaft 40anticlockwise in Figure lcauses all the nuts 36 to slide along the slot38 to the right in Figures 2 and '3 and so swing the levers 24 and urgethe knife 4 evenly forward against the friction due tothe clampingrotary cutter may be moved outwardsupon the reciprocation of a singlemember.

. Further objects and advantages of the'invention will appear from the:following description of an embodiment of the invention in whichreference is made to the accompanying drawings in which: i

Figure l is ly in section; v Figures 2 and 3 are views on a larger scaleof an end elevation of the cutter, partone knife and associatedmechanism-,considerably broken away and viewed in the directions of thearrows II and III in Figure l;'

Figure 4 is a side elevation of one end of the cutter, seen in thedirection of the arrow IV, in Figure 1; and r Figure 5 is a section onthe line V-V in Figure 4.

The cutter consists of a drum-like body 2 carrying a number of knives 4which clamped between a lower plate 6' and an upper plate 8. Tobacco isfed by two conveyors Illv and 12 to a mouthpiece I3 and is shredded bythe rotating cutter whichis supported in bearings M. The cutting edgesl5 of the knives4 are gradually worn away both by are each;

the action of cutting and by v a grinding device by which they are keptsharp.'

action of the upper plate 8.

A plunger 44 projects from one endof a stub shaft 46 on which the drum 2is supported. The inner end 48 of-this plunger is conical and en-' gagesthe bases ofradially extending push rods Y 50, one of which correspondsto each knife. At v its outer ends each push rod engages an'arm 5 2turning on the end of the shaft 4|] and carrying a pawl 54 which engagesa ratchet wheel 56secured to the shaft. Each time the plunger 44 isdepressed, all theshafts 40 are turnedby the same amount, and so all theknives 4 are fed outwards to the same extent. The plunger and associatedmechanism are returned by springs 58, B0 and 62.

I claim: A I

1. A rotary cutter for material such as leaf tobacco comprising, adrum,a plurality of knife support sections disposed about the drum, aplurality of knives mounted in a plane parallel to the axis andsubstantially perpendicular to the radius of said drum, and individualmeans for moving each knife in its own plane, comprising,

a plurality of leversspaced along said drum and a pivoted to swing in aplane parallel to and immediately below said knife, elements carried bysaid levers and in engagement with the part of said knife remote fromsaid cutting edge, a threaded shaft parallel-to each said cutting edge,

These means connecting said shaft to said levers to REFERENCES CITEDswing said levers upon rotation of said shaft thus The followingreferences are of record in the forcing said cutting edge outwardly onsaid drum. file or this patent: s

I 2. A rotary cutter according to claim 1, in

which said support sections together with said 5 UNITED STATES PATENTSmeans for moving each knife are removable from Number Name Date saiddrum. 2,464,896 Schreiber Mar. 22, 1949 3. A rotary cutter according toclaim 1, and 2,484,403 Dearsley Oct. 11, 1949 means including ratchetand pawl mechanisms connected by a common actuator for rotating 10 saidshafts-and thus moving said knives outwardly in unison. 1

PATRICK QUINTIN ROBERT SCI-IREIBER.

